Orlando files suit to take church land for soccer stadium

After a year of failed talks, Orlando has filed suit in court to force a family-owned church in Parramore to sell its land to make way for a new Major League Soccer stadium.

If successful, the eminent domain action filed Thursday in Orange Circuit Court would allow Orlando to take the last of 20 parcels needed for the $115 million stadium being built for the Orlando City Lions, an MLS expansion franchise.

Newly released records show the city more than doubled its initial offer for the small, African-American-owned Faith Deliverance Temple, to $4 million.

Members of the family that owns the church reduced their initial selling price from $35 million to $15 million. Even so, the two sides remained far apart.

"We've got a duty to safeguard the assets of the city," Downs said. "While we were certainly willing to pay the Williams family a substantial amount of money — much more than the property is worth by any estimate — there comes a point where we have to go to court."

Asked for comment, church representative Jonathan Williams referred questions to the church's lawyer, who did not return a call Tuesday.

The process of eminent domain, or condemnation, has two phases.

First, a judge will decide whether the purpose of taking the land — building a soccer stadium — fits the law's definition of a legitimate public use.

If the city prevails in that phase, the city would then have the right to take possession of the land while the second phase — determining a fair market value — proceeds.

The property is on Church Street, a block west of the Amway Center. Of the 19 properties Orlando has already acquired, 17 were from willing sellers.

The other two were taken through eminent domain actions. The same judge assigned to Faith Deliverance Temple's case sided with the city in those earlier two cases, finding that a stadium fits the definition of a public use.

Still, neither of the other two landowners presented evidence to the contrary, so the city's earlier victories don't guarantee a win against the church.

The minor-league Orlando City Soccer Club plays its first season as an MLS team early next year in the newly renovated Citrus Bowl. The team had planned to move into its new soccer-specific stadium midway through the season, but the delay in acquiring the land has delayed construction and pushed the opening to 2016.

City officials initially offered $1.5 million, about twice the property's appraised value, but church members said that wasn't enough for them to rebuild. They countered by asking for $35 million — enough to buy and expand another church, and pay for its ongoing operation.